If you were to buy the newest Ratchet and Clank game for the PS4 the back of the box will say, “The game, based off the movie, based off the game.” Normally video game movies have a bad reputation for being, well, shit.  Granted I do have some guilty pleasures but now when I hear that a movie based off a video game is being made, I cringe.  I cringed when I heard that Warner Brothers were making a “Warcraft” movie and I honestly thought that this movie was going to be worse.  However I quite enjoyed it.

Now without giving away any spoilers, this movie is NOT a direct adaptation of the original PS2 game.  It is a reimagining of the original but there are some themes that the movie took from the original.  Such as Captain Quark being a giant idiot, Ratchet being denied with joining the Galactic Rangers, and Clank needing to meet Quark to tell him of the impending doom.  The only main difference from the 2002 game to the movie is Dr. Nefarious showing up, but if he looks weird to you, don’t worry, it all works out in the end.

Ratchet fixing Clank for the first time.

What I loved about the movie were the jokes.  The story was pretty cut and dry and you could see a few things happening from a mile away, but the little things were what made me enjoy this movie.  There was this one part in particular where myself and my, film school graduate, best friend were the only ones laughing in the whole theatre. It was a “Wilhelm Scream” joke (if you don’t know what it is youtube it).  The filmmakers also knew who their audience was and there in a few PlayStation easter eggs that people who grew up with PlayStation (me) would catch.  The original voice actors from the game came back to reprise their roles and included some big times stars.  Including Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, and even Sylvester Stallone to name a few.

All in all I really enjoyed this movie and my only critique would be that it felt weird watching Ratchet and not having a controller in my hands, and that there were way too many production logos.  However if you were to go to Rotten Tomatoes and read some reviews, they are less than favorable.  While walking out of the cinema, it’s obvious that this movie was made for the actual FANS of the game.  The filmmakers added the humor from the games that I loved, especially with the subtitles and the subtitles of those subtitles.  The classic weapons (including the RYNO and Omni-Wrench) had quite a bit of screen time and the screen writers wrote the characters well.  It was a well acted, very well animated, decent movie.  So why do a crap ton of critics hate it?  My theory is that they have never picked up a PS2 controller in their life, and if you played the original game, you’re going to enjoy it.  Now if you happen to have kids and wonder if they’ll like it, yeah I think they would.  The movie introduces Ratchet and Clank very well and you don’t need to have played the older games to know what the heck is going on.  So for me, the answer to the question in my title is no, this movie does not suck, IF you played the original game. If you have never played Ratchet and Clank then you might want to skip this one, until you have played the game that is.

Yes Ratchet I liked your movie.  Now go blow something up! Ben Praster

Some where in sunny Southern California, Ben Praster is avoiding the sun by either playing video games, reading comic books, writing his book, or watching movies and TV shows on Netflix. When he DOES finally see the sun, you’ll most likely find him at a local trade show hunting down old school games.